Easter memories prevail

DARKE COUNTY - Easter traditions vary from family to family…from country to country…from religion to religion.

The Daily Advocate decided to ask locals through social media what were their favorite memories of this sacred holiday.

Kelly Shane-Van De Grift remarked, “Oh I remember having Easter Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa VanDeGrift’s. A sit-down dinner with the whole family and then, of course, the egg hunt even if it was snowing! This was after the Sunrise service at Rossburg Church and the wonderful breakfast after. Wonderful memories!.”

Rhonda Gigandet stated, “Remember going to Grandpa and Grandma Gasper’s house and eating a big lunch and going outside with all my cousins and brothers and trying to see who could get the most eggs. Those were the good old days….. sure do miss them.”

“Now that Grandma and Grandpa Rose along with my mom and dad are gone, I still have Easter for my family and still have an Easter Egg hunt,” said Carla Cothran. “Over 300 eggs for 11 nieces and nephews. Then the adults always have something to do as well. I have been told by all the adults that I have kept the family tradition going. That makes me happy.”

Carolyn Hartzell-Waymire wrote, “I always had a new frilly dress with can- cans from the ‘Cotton Shoppe.’ I got a new pair of patent leather shoes from Martin’s Department Store. On Easter Sunday, I usually got a stuffed bunny and a chocolate bunny. For breakfast, we had hard-boiled eggs. We went to Mass and had a great lunch after. Then we went to the football field in Versailles with our new clothes on and found ‘REAL’ colored eggs. Some had 5 cents marked on them. Dad always said. ‘Don’t stand in line; I will give you the money.’ We were always reminded of the true meaning of Easter - Christ dying for us and rising in Glory on Easter morning.”

“As a child, of course, there was an Easter egg hunt,” recalled Robin Zupp Hesson. “Easter Sunday started with Sunrise service, Sunday school and church. We ALWAYS had a reservation someplace to eat out. There was four years that I didn’t make it to church as I had the measles….yes four years in a row. I’d break out usually on Good Friday or Saturday. Dad would stay home with me as my mother wasn’t about to let her Easter ensemble go to waste. Now, we spend the day at my aunt’s house with family and all the little ones with an Easter egg hunt and a light luncheon fare. We are making new memories.”

“I remember one year ?? when I was little we hunted Easter eggs in the snow,” said George Fanning. “Lots of fun.”

Michelle Jones said, “Hunting plastic eggs at Grandma and Grandpa’s after lunch; then after all were found re-hiding them til supper.”

“Nothing big…just a nice Easter dinner and egg hunt for the kids,” said Susie Baumgardner Francis.

“I hate to admit this, but at 30 years old my daughter still likes to hunt eggs (the prizes are better),” said one person anonymously.

Sherry Waymire remarked, “I remember dying eggs every year as a child. We’d use a white Crayon to write our names or a short message on them them take turns with my brother sinking them in the different dyes. The smell of vinegar and the sound of those little fizzing tablets and the mess we’d make….good stuff.”

Kari Bartram commented, “One of my favorite memories of an Easter morning (that I wasn’t even involved in!) is when my sister ‪Jodi Reichert‬, her husband and their three kids bought hundreds of plastic eggs and dumped them ALL over my mom and dad’s yard at night. Then they wrote on a poster board: ‘You’ve been egged by the Easter Bunny!’ It was a cute prank!”

Terri Martin, who said she made Easter baskets for her husband and son every year, recalled: “One year when the kids were little, the weather was nasty, so we hid eggs in the house and, I swear, there were about four of them we never found! To this day, I don’t know what happened to them.”

She added, “We kids hated black licorice so our dad got the black jelly beans. Mom got each one of us big filled fruit and nut eggs with our names on them. We usually didn’t eat those, either because they were too pretty so she enjoyed those. We had lots of deviled eggs for dinner.”

Jayna Johnson submitted her memory, “The wild and raucous egg hunt at Uncle Tom’s cabin at Wayne Lakes. Five grandchildren shut in the small bathroom while the eggs were hidden. When the door opened, it was like horses being sprung from behind the gate at the Great Darke County Fair. Let’s just say the hunts were competitive and lasted into early adulthood. The neighbors have since admitted peeking out their windows to watch.”

“I hid eggs one night for my kids in the house because it was too cold to hide them outside,” said Debbie Kunk. “When we got up, there were no eggs but we did have a very large dog with real bad gas. Oops!”

Myron D. Caupp said, “I remember hiding Easter eggs for the kids way back. We had a real problem later in the summer when the dog found some that the kids didn’t find. They were really ripe. Also, I remember Easter at Grandpa and Grandma Shook’s when I was just a kid. Some great memories.”

“My Grandpa passed away when my kids we small,” reminisced Cathy Wolfe. “He loved boiled eggs so it became a tradition that every year we take hard-boiled colored Easter eggs to the Cemetery and place on his grave.”

Linda Burnfield said, “I remember getting all dressed up in our new Easter clothes that Mom had bought us and we would go to church and we was to act like ladies and gentlemen (yeah, right) and we would come home and Mom would always make a wonderful dinner but, of course, we always had to change our clothes so we wouldn’t get them dirty. Mom was the best cook. I miss her so much.”

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